Terrorist Attacks on Electric Grid Worry Former FERC Chairman

An attack on the Metcalf power station near Silicon Valley, Calif., in April 2013 was “the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred,” said Jon Wellinghoff, who was chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) at the time, in an article published by the Wall Street Journal this week.

After the Metcalf attack, Wellinghoff gave briefings to high-level federal and utility officials, but he’s become frustrated that there have been no arrests, so he’s gone public with his story, citing concern that the nation’s electric-grid isn’t adequately protected against attacks.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) conducts periodic grid security exercises to prepare the electricity sector to respond to a cyber incident and strengthen utilities’ crisis response functions. But Wellinghoff says he’s more concerned about a physical attack on the grid than a cyber attack.